IELTS Speaking P.2 Topic: Describe a present or gift you have given someone.

[Maybo]

This is a practice text for the speaking part of the IELTS exam. Please correct it and make it colloquial.

Topic: Describe a present or gift you have given someone. （Source)

You should say:

• Who you gave it to
• What kind of present it was
• How it compared to other presents you have given

Explain why you decided to give this particular gift.

My response:

I gave a book called The Little Prince to my friend, Jenny, three months ago. The book follows a young boy who came from a small planet decided to go on a space travel. In his journey he met some quirky people. For example, a conceited man who loved to hear only praises from others. Every time the little prince clapped, he would take his hat off in salute. I found the little prince’s experiences quite interesting and Jenny might like it. I've never given any books to other friends because many of them consider books to be unpractical. Some of them even don't read. Also, it's hard to choose a book that suits somebody because everyone's taste is different. Some may have read the book I want to give. Therefore, these days, I've been gifting other people home appliances which are practical to them. Jenny is the only friend who love to read. I knew she hadn't read the little prince so I gave it to her. She's been taking care of her children over the past two years so she doesn't have time to go on vacation. She feels depressed about it. In the past, she would share her travel stories with me - how she interacted with local people, what they did to help her get out of trouble and what amazing views she saw. I believed she missed those days very much so I chose a book about travel for her. I hoped it would remind her of some interesting people she'd met and she would become happier.

 

[Tarheel]

For the second sentence I might say the book tells the story of a boy who came here from a different solar system.

It's fiction, right?

 

[Maybo]

For the second sentence I might say the book tells the story of a boy who came here from a different solar system.

It's fiction, right?

Yes, it's fiction. I don't know if his planet was in a different solar system. Maybe in the same as ours. Before he came to Earth, he had visited a few more planets somewhere.

 

[emsr2d2]

I gave a book called The Little Prince to my friend, Jenny, three months ago.

Here's an example of how your perfectly grammatical sentence could sound more natural:

Three months ago, I gave my friend Jenny a book called The Little Prince.

One of my main pieces of advice to learners is to concentrate on using "give [name] [article] [noun]" more often than "give [article] [noun] to [name]". It's just far more natural that way.

I gave my brother ten quid.
He gave his friend a car for Xmas.
I'm going to give my mum some perfume.
We're giving my cousin some money for his birthday.
They gave their daughter an ultimatum last week.

 

[Tarheel]

I fixed the error. (I don't know how "sentence" wound up being "chance".)

I'm sure you need some line breaks.

I'll look at it some more later.

 

[emsr2d2]

• Who you gave it to
• What kind of present it was
• How it compared to other presents you have given

I gave a book called The Little Prince to my friend, Jenny, Three months ago, I gave my friend Jenny a book called The Little Prince. The book follows a young boy prince who came from a small distant planet, who decided to go on a space travel and visit other planets.

In During his journey, he met some quirky people. For example, he met a conceited man who loved to hear only praises praise from others. Every time the little prince clapped, he would take his hat off in salute.

I found the little prince’s experiences quite interesting and so I thought Jenny might like it. I've never given any books a book to any other friends because many of them consider books to be un impractical. Some of them even don't even read. Also, it's hard to choose a book that suits somebody because everyone's taste is different. Someone may might have already read the book I want to give them.

Therefore Consequently, these days, I've been gifting other I tend to gift people practical home appliances. which are practical to them.

Jenny is the only one of my friends who loves to read. I knew she hadn't read The Little Prince so I gave it to her. She's been taking care of her children over for the past/last two years so she doesn't have hasn't had time to go on vacation, which she has found depressing. She feels depressed about it.

In the past, she would share her travel stories with me - how she interacted with local people, what they did to help her get out of trouble and what amazing views she saw. I believed she missed those days very much so I chose a book about travel for her. I hoped it would remind her of some interesting people she'd met and she would become happier.

See above. Your final paragraph (now that I've added some paragraph breaks) didn't need any corrections at all. Well done.

 

[Tarheel]

Giving likes nowadays is hot or miss.

I doubt that Jenny has ever met an extraterrestrial.